


Partners, Always

by Artemis_stark



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance needs to be protected, Langst, M/M, Protective Keith (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron) Has a Clone, Shiro's clone was a bitch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 02:27:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16986399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis_stark/pseuds/Artemis_stark
Summary: Shiro's clone is an Asshole and Lance needs a hug (from Keith).Alternatively:Lance was being abused by the clone and no one knew.





	Partners, Always

Everyone was seated around the fire, laughing and joking just happy to have the whole team back together again and to have some new additions as well. However, Lance wasn’t in the mood for group hangout time, all he wanted to do was go sit in Red like he had become accustomed to in the recent months. The only reason he didn’t was so that the others didn’t have to pretend to give a shit about him, and he didn’t want Keith to know something was wrong. Although it had been apparently months for the other boy, Keith was scarily good at knowing when something was wrong with him. Lance didn’t want to admit, but he was still hurt that Keith had just left them without any warning. He was supposed to be Keith’s second in command, and then as soon as Shiro (or his clone, Lance supposes) could pilot the black lion he left without even discussing it with Lance. He was glad that Keith had found his mom and got in touch with his Galra roots, but Lance was still a little bitter. Not like anyone of them cared about how he felt though.

It didn’t help that he didn’t feel particularly close to any of them anymore. Pidge and Hunk had formed this new friendship over tech, and more often than not the pair didn’t feel like explaining things to Lance’s “Simple mind”, as they had put it. Lance knew he wasn’t a super genius but he _was not_ stupid by any means. He had made it into the Garrison after all. He proved everyone who had ever doubted him wrong when he did it too. Maybe English wasn’t his first language, but he had picked everything up _fast_ , it didn’t stop everyone from making fun of him when he forgot a word or misspoke. No one at his school had believed a nobody from Cuba could get into the Garrison but he did it, and he work so _hard_ for it. Lance didn’t understand why his best friends were blocking him out from their lives, but it fucking hurt.

And then there was Allura. Everyone thought he had this massive crush on her, but he got over that pretty much right after it started. Lance really only flirted with her as a form of banter, Lance spent a lot more time admiring the stupidly oblivious half-galra paladin. Allura spent so much time cozying up to Lotor recently, and look how that had turned out. He kept trying to tell the team that Lotor couldn’t be trusted, that his gut could feel the galran prince was suspicious. But instead, everyone kept telling him _‘stop being petty Lance’_ and _‘You really need to get over Allura’_. He was so fucking sick of it that he had resigned to spend all of his time training and hanging out with Red instead of the other paladins.

Lance could barely look at Shiro. He _knew_ that it wasn’t actually him, that it had been a clone but Lance still had nightmares about the prosthetic hand _burning_ his skin and Shiro’s body towered over him. It wasn’t fair to Shiro, but until Lance could get control of his body’s instinctual reactions, he refused to go near the former Black paladin. Also, Lance couldn’t be sure how much of the clone’s memories that Shiro had access to, it had only been a couple days since the other man regain consciousness and this was the first time since then that they camped out on a planet. Lance was terrified that Shiro would reveal how weak he had been when the clone was hurting him.

Lance simply looked around at everyone, seeing them all form their little groups. He saw Coran and Allura chatting animatedly with Romelle, the Altean Keith brought back with his mom, about Altea and the colony she was born in. Lance was glad they weren’t alone in the universe, he couldn’t imagine the pain of losing their people. He swiveled his head over the right and saw Hunk and Pidge excitedly talking and pointing to things on their screens, Lance couldn’t be sure but he thought they were talking about the properties of the other planets in the system. He felt pain unfurl in his chest, how long had it been since he smiled like that? Made jokes? But none of them ever fucking noticed, they probably never would. The rest of their group seemed so sympathetic and observant with the pain of everyone but _him_. With his pain it seemed everyone had blinders on, although Lance can acknowledge that he doesn’t let his pain show as clearly, he doesn’t want to be seen as weak. He buries his hurt with jokes and fake smiles, he takes each insult they seemed to hurl at him without even thinking about it. 

This time he looks right across the fire to see Keith and his mom catching up with Shiro. Krolia was eternally grateful for Shiro taking Keith under his wing and guiding him, and she made a point to thank him often for it. Lance hadn’t seen Keith so relaxed in a while. He seemed to grow into his new body, become so much more comfortable in his own skin. It really wasn’t fair that Lance probably looked like shit and his crush had come back looking like a greek god. Lance wasn’t paying attention, too busy staring at Keith, that when tore his eyes off the other boy, he looked straight into Shiro’s eyes. As soon as they made eye contact Lance flinched back before stiffening up and gaining control of himself. He shakily looked at Shiro again to find a stricken look on his face, and Lance felt awful. He didn’t want to hurt Shiro, he just couldn’t help the way his body reacted to the man who had once been his hero.

Allura seemed to look over at them at exactly that moment and had a small frown on her face.

“Lance, I know that Shiro’s clone didn’t treat you the best, but we must move on from that. The true Shiro is here with us now.” Lance looked to the ground and Allura’s expression softened, she knew Lance had been having a rough go of it, he was more quiet than usual and didn’t make as many jokes. She cared for all the paladins and it killed her that she couldn’t seem to help him.

“Allura, He’s fine. I know it will take some time for him to get used to me, I understand.” Shiro and Lance locked eyes, the older man had a kind smile on his face, “I’m just glad I’m not stuck in Black and I can actually make up for what my clone did” Lance nodded his thanks, his posture relaxing.

“Shiro, that clone wasn’t you! We all know that! There is nothing you have to make up for” Keith’s face was harsh and serious. He knew his brother was struggling with the guilt of everything that happened.

“Keith, I know it wasn’t me, but I have his memories, I have nightmares about what he did,” Lance froze and tensed up again, “What he did to Lance was awful! I don’t blame him for being scared, it was my face! Whenever he got hurt, it was my face doing it!” At this everyone froze. Lance could feel tears fill his eyes

“W-what? What do you mean h-hurt?” Pidge whispered

“Lance? You didn’t tell them?” Shiro looked to the cuban boy whose face was focused on his own clenched hands, trying not to cry. “I assumed that’s why everyone was telling me nothing was my fault, I just assumed he told” His voice sounded hollow.

“Shiro,” Allura’s voice was firm but quiet, “What do you mean Lance was _hurt_ ” She was desperate now. There was no way, she would have noticed, _someone_ would have noticed. 

“I- my clone, h-he hurt him. He _kept_ hurting him. Anytime Lance spoke up, or made a mistake in battle or training. Lance didn’t trust Lotor, he kept talking to my clone about it until he was holding Lance down, _burning_ him with our Galra hand. Most of the time he would put Lance in a healing pod, but he never let Lance heal the burn. Said it marked him as _worthless_.” Shiro was talking fast, choking up. The others watched in horror. “He told Lance that he was such a shitty Right-hand that Keith left so he wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore.” Keith’s face fell, feeling like a knife was just stuck into his chest. He whipped around to face Lance.

Lance stood up stiffly, trying not to let all his emotions out. 

“I’m really tired, good night.” He swiftly turned and sped over to Red, climbing into her cockpit as his team mates called after him, asking him to come back.

“Keith, go talk to him” Allura put her hand on his shoulder. “I know you love him” Keith’s head shot up

“You do?” He blushed “I didn’t realize it was that obvious”

“You definitely are, not the point” Pidge looked up at him, “He loves you too. You didn’t see him after you left. It was like the light went out of his eyes. Out of all of us, he will open up to you, just don’t mess this up.” 

“I won’t.” Keith vowed, walking over to his former lion.

When he reached Red, he put his hand on her paw.

“Hey girl, Lance is hurting and I need you to let me in.” He heard a growl echo through his head, and he knew Red would let him in. “Thanks girl, I’ve missed you so much.” he whispered.

He walked into the cockpit and found Lance crying while sitting against a wall. 

“Lance” Keith tried to make his voice soft and comforting.

Keith sat down next to the other boy and pulled Lance into his arms.

“He was _wrong_ , Lance. Nothing he said was right, Ok? _Nothing_.” Lance pressed his face into Keith's neck, tears rolling down his face. “Why didn’t you tell me something was wrong? That you were being hurt? I would have listen to you! I could have helped!” his arms tighten around Lance. Keith couldn’t stand the fact that the boy he loved was being hurt, and he didn’t even know until it was over. He _never_ should’ve left, he should’ve at least seen something was wrong. Everytime the blade video chatted with the castle, Keith saw that Lance was being quiet and more distant than normal. He should have asked Lance what was wrong, he could have helped.

“You left us, left _me_. One day we were partners and the next day you were leaving and you never even said anything! What Shiro said made sense! If you didn’t even feel the need to tell me before going, then I _must_ have been an awful Right-hand man. It was like you didn’t even care about me.” Lance pulled back to see Keith’s crestfallen face.

“ _No_! None of that is right! I swear! The only reason I didn’t tell you is because I knew if you asked me to, I would stay! I had to leave, I had to know more about my heritage, and I did!” Keith put his hands on Lance’s shoulders and looked him right in the eye, Lance had to know he was telling the truth.

“Really?” 

“Yes! You were amazing as my Right-hand! You were the only reason I kept going when Shiro disappeared. You’ve helped me so much.” Keith was desperate to make Lance believe what he was saying. It was so hard to see wonderful, hopeful, happy Lance so insecure, so vulnerable. He wanted to find Haggar, and kill her for this.

“Keith, when you left, I felt so hurt. And then the clone started telling me all this stuff, it was just easier to believe him.” Lance dried his eyes, sniffling. “I felt so alone. You were gone, Hunk and Pidge went off on their own, and Coran and Allura hang out together all the time. It felt like I couldn’t tell anyone.” He whimpered, pushing his face back into Keith’s chest.

“You could’ve told me, I promise. You can always tell me anything, ok?” Lance nodded, Keith pushed him back to look him in the eye. “I missed you so much, everyday I thought about what you might be doing or what your smile looked like.” He cupped Lance’s cheek, smiling softly at him.

“I missed you too. I was always thinking about what you would do if you were here, or if you were safe. I didn’t know what I would have done if something happened to you.” Lance started to tear up again and Keith panicked, pulling the cuban back into his embrace.

“Hey, none of that. I’m fine, see? I might be a little older, but I’m perfectly safe.” Lance squeezed him a little tighter, like he was making sure Keith was, in fact, okay. “You know how you feel, thinking about how something might’ve happened to me? Take that and multiply that by a million and you’re almost to how it felt hearing you were hurt, and I couldn’t do anything”

“Keith..” Lance’s face softened.

“Listen, Lance. I know we are in the middle of a war, but I hate that I can’t always protect you.” Keith nuzzled into Lance’s hair. “It feels like someone took a blade to my chest and just started hacking” He took a shuddering breath and closed his eyes. 

Lance looked up at the other boy, and felt a swell of affection rise in his chest. It wasn’t often that Keith opened up like this. Keith looked back at him, and started to lean in. Lance hesitated and the pushed forward, pressing their mouths together in a desperate kiss.

When they pulled away Keith smiled, “Listen, whatever happens, we can face it together side by side, alright? Partners, always. I love you, sharpshooter”

“Partners.” Lance grinned. “I love you too, mullet.”


End file.
